Story I wrote about ten years ago. Hadn't realized it had been so long. Spoilers for Vol 7

The mission looked simple. That should have warned Pip right there.

Five minutes into it things went smoothly. Then one of the targets tore through a wall and killed half of beta team. The principle vampire vanished, and so did the snipers. Things just got bad after that.

Pip had been separated from the rest of the command squad and was trying to find the command squad, the snipers, anyone to form a rally point. Every time he'd gotten close to the sounds of fighting, the noise died and moved off. He tried calling out, but lifeless village swallowed it every time, it was as if they were fighting the town and not vampires.

He continued to toy with the silver cross he bought, hoping he wouldn‘t have to use it. He turned a corner and saw the remnants of the battle he was chasing. Broken bodies and piles of ash were all that were left.

“Damn”, he swore and smashed his fist into the wall.

His radio cracked back to life. Frantically Pip snatched it and brought it to his ear. The signal was faint, but still there.

“Bloo…hel…is…ryone?”

“Copy. Where are you?”

“Nort…end…lls…Ser… act… unny”, a loud bang, an inhuman shriek, then, “Retre … she’s…cking lost it!“, and then with a crunch, nothing.

‘Lost it’ meant a lot of things to different people. To Pip it meant only one thing: overrun.

“Damn it”, and he shot off to the north side of the town. Seras couldn't do this, she wasn't a soldier. Even with her abilities, she'd never have a chance.

Through mist-covered streets and darkened alleyways he ran, the cold of the night burning his skin. The shadows were playing tricks with his eyes. Every shift and quiver in the darkness housed dozens of demons ready jump from the gloom and attack.

His breathing was hard, both from the exertion and the fear.

Street after street flew by, Pip straining to hear any noise. A crunch, there in that ruined house! He sprinted over kicking the broken door down and leveled his rifle. He registered the vampire across the room before it violently flew in five different directions. In that haze of blood and bone he picked out the reason for his rescue attempt: Seras.

She no longer looked human. Her eyes were burning crimson, her face distorted by blood lust, her teeth sharpened to spikes.

She turned to him, the look of hunger on her face unmistakable.

Pip reversed his momentum and tried to sprint out the doorway, but it was too late. Seras was already there. He never felt her fist crash into his face, but he did feel her knee slam into his chest when he hit the floor. Through the concussion induced fog Pip heard his shirt collar rip and saw Seras's head start to descend . Only dimly remembering that vampires didn’t like sliver, he took his sliver cross, still in his hand, and weakly put it on her temple.

With a cry Seras shot away and place both her hands on the wound. Pip tried to get up still trying to process what happened in the last ten seconds.

“I’m sorry”, Seras whimpered and ran into the night, and Pip was left with his thoughts.

It looked so simple.

---

The flight into Brazil was going smoothly. They were flying low to avoid RADAR detection. The steady thrumming of the engines had lulled the men to sleep. Pip was still awake though, not from stress or anxiety, but from the sobbing.

Forcing Seras into her coffin had been a wretched affair. Nobody bothered telling him that she was claustrophobic. Half the guys weren't coming along after that. Over land she hadn't been too bad, just pushing at the lid. Once they were over water it got worse.

She had started clawing at the lid, moaning that she was being crushed. Only the wild rose on the coffin kept her in. Dawn had cut her cries short, but night had fallen long before they reached the shoreline.

Pip flinched with every scratch, every muted sob. Visions of the monster that almost killed him and the crying girl in the back danced through his head. Part of him wanted her to ignore her. Part of him wanted to do something.

With a shrill cry the ripping on the lid reached a fever pitch. No one else seemed to react, it was as if he were the only one on the plane. Every noise sliced into him, twisting him up inside. Even through the all noise he could hear her.

“Please... help”

He couldn't take it, he had to do something. He stood up and walked back to the hold, avoiding outstretched feet and comatose bodies. Before he wanted to, he was in front of the cargo hold. The light cut off completely at the entrance. He could feel the difference in atmospheres. Light and warm and welcoming behind him. Dark and cold and crushing before him. Still Seras cried.

He stepped into the hold. The cold seeped into his lungs, as if the very air were a poison. Breathing softly Pip waited for his eyes to adjust. Seras's smaller pine coffin came into view first, then Alucard's black monolithic coffin. It was uncomfortably close. Giving it a wide berth, he inched closer to Seras.

“Seras”, he called out. She kept sobbing, oblivious. “Seras”, louder this time.

She was beautiful, but not like this. He slowly sat down next to her coffin.

“When I first started out, we got a job in Zaire. Some warlord wanted his diamond mine guarded and we got the job. I was the rookie of the bunch and nervous as hell. They came that night”, he stopped, remembering.

“What happened?”, Seras asked. Pip could barely make it out the way her voice trembled.

“Play cards, go whoring, and shoot, not necessarily in that order”, he replied with a smirk.

“Pig”, Seras said halfheartedly.

Maybe I should get her talking, it might help. “Seras, why did you decide to be a cop?”

She paused for several moments before she answered.

“When I was little, my parents were murdered. I wanted to find who did it”, she said stiffly.

I should keep talking. He started running his fingers across the lid of the coffin rhythmically.

“I was in Uganda before I came here, we were supposed to hold the some worthless hill, we were cut off and getting shelled hard. I remember being almost buried alive by the bodies.”

Seras had stopped sobbing, but Pip could tell that she was still upset.

“We were digging in after the shelling stopped. Half the guys were already gone. Tried radioing for help; no one answered”, he said, reliving the moment.

“Then what?”, Seras's voice still shook, but she was listening.

“I got the few of us gathered up to strike back, then the tanks showed up and saved us. Not exactly what you thought, n'est-pas?”

“No”, she said quietly.

“Don't worry, mignonette, I'll do something heroic just for you.”

He could hear her shift inside the coffin.

“You haven't seen the things I fight”, there was something in her voice Pip couldn't quite place.

“I mean it, I'll even throw a party after.”

“Just don't sing.”

Pip laughed quietly. They spent the rest of the night like that, simply talking.

---

Elle viendra, Je sais qu'elle.

Pip dodged bullets as he raced to the front barricade, slamming into it before another salvo tore the air.

Elle viendra.

His heart was pounding. Firing blind he emptied a magazine in Millennium's direction. He didn't think he hit anyone. No need to. Just keep them there and when Seras came back they would kill all of them.

Je sais qu'elle.

Men were wounded, screaming. As the blood slipped from the dying the words of his men were strained and dimmed. Pip yelled out commands, assignments. He didn't recall a word he said, it was all automatic.

Seras viendra.

He saw someone pop above the boxes to fire. Before Pip could call him back he was cut down.

“Get down! Split up the ammo!”

Pip crouched down and looked over the pooled ammo. Not much. He looked into the eyes of his men. Not the first time in this situation. There was still hope. He made more reassurances, more words he did not remember.

Suddenly his vision whited out and he was thrown. A moment to recover. His vision blurred. He wobbled to his knees. Pain lanced outward from his abdomen. It hurt, that was good, the ones that didn't hurt were worse.

“Lieutenant! Cas-”, Pip started to yell, but cut off when he saw Claude.

“Ca-Captain, ca-ca I take a sh-short rest? I'm so tri...ed.”

“Its okay, you can sleep now.”

Au revoir Claude. Pip struggled to get back into firing position. He couldn't find his rifle. He saw a vampire ready another rocket.

Pip waited, it was all he could do.

Elle viendra, Je sais qu'elle.

A bang, and the vampire's head exploded. More bangs, more bullets flew by.

Down the hall the last of those bastards were being shredded. Out of ammo Seras dropped her weapons and advanced.

“I knew she'd come,” Pip said to no one.

Seras strode by, her face set in a stern mask. Tattoo picked herself off the floor and glared at Seras. For a moment they stared at each other. Then that tattooed freak punched the ground. Weird symbols spewed out and crept along the hallway. Seras froze. Only a moment, but was all that thing needed. She cut Seras's arm off first, than stabbed her in the back and sliced out her eyes.

Pip wasn't aware off standing up, taking a gun and running out. Not until he was there. He slammed that bitch's scythe into her face, knocked her to the ground and shot her. He was shaking. He wanted to keep hitting that thing, to make her hurt and scream. He had never been this angry in his entire life.

Gasps and pained moans took him from his thoughts. Seras was hurt. She was more important. He gently picked her up and put her across his shoulders.

“Leave me”, Seras whispered.

“Non.”

“Please leave me”, she sounded desperate. Pip ignored her, his stomach still hurt. He forced himself back, ten meters, eight, five. He heard the gunshots and felt pain tear through his legs. Two of the survivors raced out and fired behind him. Smoke canisters were thrown next. Everything hurt, the last steps were utter agony. He wouldn't have traded it for anything.

He didn't feel the impact, he didn't feel the pain, he didn't feel anything. His arms lost all strength and Seras slipped out. He collapsed. He looked down and saw the blade sticking out. Seras was struggling to her feet, she seemed to know. Without thinking he surged forward and kissed her. The feel of her soft lips, her wonderful scent, Her. J'ai obtenu mon baiser. He held her as long as he could. He drew away, his life fading.

This makes me feel nostalgic again. But you might need to add a spoiler alert since it use an actual scene from Vol 7, and some people in the forum haven't read Hellsing yet.

Either way I like your writing and how it adds to the original characters in the story.I especially liked the scene in the cargo hold, how it took the originally comic relief part and gave it more heart and fleshed out the characters.

"Not even a million enemies where able to make Rome afraid! Yet Rome trembled whenever she heard the name of Hannibal!!" - Scipio Africanus